The Lions Eye Institute for Transplant and Research is acquiring SightLife, a Seattle-based eye bank.
Combined, the nonprofit will be the largest eye bank, tissue recovery and ocular research center in the world, with nearly 300 employees, according to a press release. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“At Lions Eye Institute, our vision is simple: to help others see,” said Jason Woody, president and CEO of Lions Eye Institute. “We are driven to improve visual outcomes and quality of life for people who are blind or visually impaired, and we make that happen by creating innovations—new technology, new procedures, and new ways to collect and transplant tissue from compassionate donors. This partnership with SightLife takes our ability to accomplish that mission to the next level.”
More from the release:
The new partnership will increase the number of vision-saving transplants Lions Eye Institute can support each year, strengthen connections to physicians treating the 12.7 million people living with corneal blindness worldwide, and provide more than 20,000 corneas to waiting recipients around the world.
“At SightLife, we are proud of our more than 50-year history of providing corneal tissue, international eye bank development, and prevention programs around the world,” added Jim McCorkle, Interim CEO of SightLife. “This new relationship with Lions Eye Institute will carry that vital tradition forward. We look forward to serving even more people around the United States and the world through corneal transplantation, innovation and research, and international eye banking.”
In the coming months, SightLife and Lions Eye Institute for Transplant and Research will rebrand themselves with a new name, reflecting their ever-growing role in ocular and tissue research across the globe. The combined organization will be headquartered in Tampa, Florida, and significant operations will continue at SightLife’s facilities in Seattle.
Since they were founded Lions Eye and SightLife have given the gift of sight to 500,000 men, women, and children worldwide.
Lions Eye Institute for Transplant and Research is the largest combined eye bank, tissue recovery, and ocular research center in the world. It serves as the bridge between tissue donation and transplantation. Both it and SightLife are nonprofit, charitable organizations dedicated to the recovery, evaluation, and distribution of eye tissue for transplantation, research, and education. Since the inception of both programs, they have brought the “Gift of Sight” to more than 500,000 men, women, and children worldwide. For more information on the Lions Eye Institute, visit lionseyeinstitute.org.
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